National News/ Haryana
16 July
Sandeep Dhand Ludhiana
Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Congress of being anti-backward class, claiming that if the opposition comes to power in Haryana, it will remove reservations for backward classes and allocate them to Muslims. Addressing the ‘Backward Class Respect Summit,’ Shah referenced the Kaka Kalelkar Commission, which was established in the 1950s to provide reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), but noted that Congress did not implement its recommendations for years.
Shah pointed out that in 1980, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sidelined the Mandal Commission. When its recommendations were accepted in 1990, Rajiv Gandhi opposed OBC reservations. He accused Congress of reallocating backward class reservations to Muslims in Karnataka and warned that the same would happen in Haryana if Congress came to power.
Shah assured that the BJP would protect backward class rights and form the government with an absolute majority in Haryana. Criticizing former Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda for the Congress’s ‘Haryana Mange Hizb’ campaign, Shah demanded accountability for Hooda’s ten years of alleged misrule.
With assembly elections approaching, Shah praised Haryana Chief Minister Naib Singh Saini for his simplicity and accessibility, emphasizing that the Chief Minister’s doors are always open to the people.